No laxity in Polavaram project works, CM warns officials, contractors

AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu today sent a strong message that he would not tolerate any kind of laxity among the officials and contractors with regard to completion of Polavaram Project.

After a virtual inspection of the Polavaram project carried out from his camp office here, the Chief Minister said as the construction companies have failed to reach their targets, excavation works of the spillway, spill channel and power house have been delayed. The officials have informed the Chief Minister that during last week, 52,000 cubic meter of soil has been excavated per day and from now onwards, 75,000 cubic meters of soil will be excavated per day. They added that an additional 30 tippers were deployed today and 750 earth moving machines will be moved to take up excavation works on a large scale.

Following the instructions which were given by the CM last week, 20 CCTV cameras have been installed to monitor the progress of work round-the-clock. The officials informed the Chief Minister that the footage will be monitored from the nearby check post. Chandrababu also asked the officials to mobilize additional machinery for completing the backlog of work and suggested that the number of work hours be increased.

“The spillway excavation should be completed by January next year, spill channel excavation by May next year, powerhouse excavation by March next year,” said the CM. Gates design and approval should be done by this year-end, he added. Mentioning that there was no scarcity of funds for the Polavaram project, the CM informed the officials that funds for the pending bills worth Rs 110 crore are being released.

“I will not accept any kind of delay in the work relating to Polavaram project. If there are any problems for the contractors, officials should be consulted and focus should be laid on solving the problems,” said CM to contractors Thriveni and Transstroy. The officials informed the Chief Minister that 381.1 lakh cubic meters of spill channel, 25.80 lakh cubic meters of spill way and 58.46 lakh cubic meters for the power house are the balance quantities remaining as onOctober 24.

The works at the left main canal of the Polavaram Project gained pace, the officials told the CM and added that 60% of the works have been completed, which amounts to Rs 965.694 crore and that the canal will be completed by March 2018. The left main canal will irrigate an ayacut of four lakh acres — East Godavari District 2.5 lakh acres, Visakhapatnam District 1.50 lakh acres beside diversion of 23.44 TMC of water to industries in and around Visakhapatnam. The canal also provides drinking water supply to the population living in 358 Villages en route the canal. The officials also informed the CM that a total of 10342.25 acres land has been acquired for the left main canal and the balance of 251.045 acres is yet to be acquired. (NSS)